Tomorrow’s dual holiday –i.e. Canada Day and, a little more to the point here, NHL Free Agency Launch Day- reminds all women’s college hockey buffs of the equivalent smattering of transfers we see each offseason. And already, the gradual leak of 2009-2010 schedules points to multiple nonconference old friend tangles bound to occur in the upcoming Hockey East campaign:
September 26, Dawson College at Connecticut- Granted, it’s strictly a cross-border exhibition, and Dawson technically doesn’t play at a level equivalent to the NCAA or the CIS, but what better way for Alexandra Garcia –graduate Brittany Wilson’s heir apparent in the Connecticut crease- to start her first season as No. 1 than to stare down a bushel of shots from her former associates?
Incidentally, Garcia has already tangled with her old friends, stopping all of 11 shots in the third period plus one overtime stab to polish off a 4-4 tie in last year’s preseason scrimmage. But given the likelihood that she will assume the top job this season, the second Dawson game ought to act as a more significant springboard.
One other note on the Montreal-based Dawson College Blues: they fostered the skills of two eventual Maine Black Bears in Myriam Crousette and Melissa Gagnon. Maine has yet to unleash its 2009-2010 itinerary, though their preseason adversary is probably already booked. Still, if there’s still time to get creative, Dan Lichterman ought to know who to enlist.
October 9, Syracuse at Boston College- Last summer, one-time BC blueliner Gabrielle Beaudry bolted after her sophomore year for the smallest of smaller ponds and a chance to return home to upstate New York. Now she will return to Chestnut Hill as one of two seniors representing the second-year Syracuse program. This matchup also marks the first of four consecutive Hockey East road games for a team that wholly omitted the conference from its schedule last season.
October 10, Syracuse at New Hampshire- Following right up on Beaudry’s return, Orange co-captain Stefanie Marty and goaltender Lucy Schoedel will each take a return dip in Lake Whittemore.
Schoedel, a rising senior, was the first player to sign on with Syracuse last summer and facilely clamped down on the starting job after losing that same internal contest in 2007-08 to a freshman phenom named Kayley Herman. There is a good chance Herman will not only stare down Schoedel for this game, but also Marty, who happened to finish as her new team’s top scorer with 10 goals and 22 points.
October 10, Connecticut at Clarkson- This is the most intriguing item in the bag. Would-be UConn senior Dominique Thibault, who had twice topped the Huskies’ scoring charts, won the league’s Player of the Year honors as a sophomore, split the “C” with senior Nicole Tritter this past season, and spent her springs on the track and field team, will take the form of a Golden Knight for this match.
If that weren’t enough –and one might argue that it isn’t seeing as this game is in Potsdam, not Storrs- Thibault’s first eight regular season games with Clarkson will be against WHEA inhabitants: BC on October 2-3, Providence on October 9, a two-night excursion to Vermont on October 16-17, New Hampshire on October 23, and Boston University on October 24. Whew.
February 2, Boston College at Harvard- This won’t be the first time former Eagles forward Anna McDonald, who converted from Maroon to Crimson after her freshman campaign in 2006-07, confronts her old team, but it will be BC’s first visit to the Harvard campus since the transfer. Additionally, it’s a rematch of last year’s Beanpot title tilt –a 1-0 neutral site win for the Eagles- and it’s a prescheduled first round match in the same tournament. In other words, McDonald gets a good seven months to continuously anticipate this one.
As it currently stands, McDonald and her ex-classmates from Chestnut Hill each have two Beanpot crowns to their credit, one they earned together and one they claimed separately. Only one party will be vying for a third title a week after these curtains drop.
That covers it in this department for now, and a reminder that, as of right now, the likes of BC, BU, Maine, UNH, and Northeastern all still have yet to unleash their schedules in full. There is still plenty of potential for other ex- or born-again Hockey Easterners to oppose their former associates.
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